Book Review: The High Season by Judy Blundell

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You can practically feel the sunlight pouring off the pages of The High Season, which, thanks to National Book Award Winner Judy Blundell's lyrical and painterly prose, is as picturesque as the summery Long Island beach house where the novel's action is set.

Told from the points-of-view of multiple characters, the instantly compelling book introduces us to the local residents and seasonal visitors of a beautiful beach community that's big enough to enjoy but small enough that secrets don't stay that way for long as its inhabitants soon find out.

Although it's made fiscal sense, renting their gorgeous home every summer in order to afford to live in it during the rest of the year has begun to wear on our main protagonist, museum director Ruthie Dutton and her fifteen-year-old daughter Jem.

Renovating a perfect beach house only to need to leave it during its peak season has been a leading cause of the breakdown of her marriage to Mike, with whom she's still on excellent terms, and even though the mature Jem puts up a good front, Ruthie hates the idea of uprooting her each summer.

And when her latest renter makes herself home a little too quickly – setting her sights on Mike, her friends, and possibly a permanent place in North Fork – Ruthie finds herself at war, especially after the renter's college aged stepson takes an interest in Jem, and nonprofit art world politics threaten her livelihood.

Breaking down the action on several fronts, we're also introduced to Ruthie's enigmatic young coworker Doe who's perfected the art of blending in anywhere and with anyone and it's in Doe's chapters that Blundell and the reader has the most fun as she gently satirizes the rich. 

The first book the author has penned exclusively for adults, admittedly there are times when The High Season's older characters (especially Ruthie) act more immature than their younger counterparts do in incongruous scenes that hinders their relatability.

A gifted stylist, however, Blundell doesn't lose us for long. As high stakes subplots begin to collide, the book rebounds from a slightly muddled middle act – delivering a final hundred pages you'll fly right through just as fast as this entertaining read flies off shelves this summer.

Text ©2018, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I received a review copy of this title through Bookish First in order to voluntarily decide to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Book Review: Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert (2018)

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While many novelists refer to their latest works as “the book of my heart,” in the case of young adult author Kelly Loy Gilbert’s finely crafted, humanistic new effort Picture Us In the Light, that description is entirely justified.

Sensitively penned within the immediately convincing first person point-of-view of our main character, high school senior and aspiring artist Danny Cheng, the author pulls us into Picture’s picturesque world within the very first chapter.

After stumbling upon a mysterious box of his father's and going through it with gusto, Danny begins to wonder just how much his loving but secretive parents have been keeping from him.

Unable to come of age until he can come to terms with unexplained gaps and tragedies in his past, he enlists the help of his two best friends - only to discover that he can’t examine the lives of those closest to him without doing the same himself.

Balancing wry observations and deft characterizations with heavy subject matter, Loy Gilbert foreshadows big twists to come as we move further into the novel. And although it begins with a steady climb, Picture slows down just long enough to ensure that we feel as connected to the characters as they are to each other.

Now sure she’s got you, the author returns to full speed - moving like a bullet train from roughly the hundred page mark all the way through to its bittersweet but very satisfying final chapter.

Written during the tumultuous 2016 election and revised afterward, Loy Gilbert is right on YouTube when she acknowledges the vital role that stories play in this post election world where “facts don't matter,” due to fiction’s empathetic ability to introduce us to people, places, and plights we might not encounter otherwise.

Filled with so much internal and external dramatic mystery that in less gifted hands, Picture could’ve easily resulted in a messy collision of conflicts, although there are a few revelations about both the plot and our protagonist that we’re able to deduce long before he does, the author wraps things up artfully.

Dropping hints and red herrings into sentences and passages so gorgeous that I found myself making multiple notes throughout, Kelly Loy Gilbert never once lets us feel as though she’s taking a shortcut on her way to the book’s resolution.

Relatively new to twenty-first century post-Harry Potter young adult fiction, if I had not received this stunning Picture through Bookish First, I would’ve completely missed what’s since become one of the best novels I’ve read so far this year.  To put it another way, it’s a book of the heart indeed.

Text ©2018, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy or screener link of this title in order to voluntarily decide to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Book Review: Little Big Love by Katy Regan (2018) -- aka Little Big Man

Available on June 12, 2018

The first American release for British author Katy Regan, Little Big Love is a heartfelt story of family secrets and lies that are slowly revealed over the course of roughly 360 pages.

Set in Grimsby, England and narrated by three different characters with distinct points-of-view (each of whom also represent a different generation of the Hutchinson family), events are set into motion when ten-year-old Zac and his best friend Teagan decide to look for the father whom Zac believes abandoned him and his mother Juliet before birth.

More than just a writerly gimmick, the trio of narrators works quite well in Little Big Love, even if occasionally the plot lags a bit with some adorable filler care of young, inquisitive Zac. Likewise, and disappointingly for the book's only female narrator, Juliet's character in particular grates slightly on the nerves – swinging like a pendulum from extreme self-loathing and immaturity to downright mother of the year material.

In spite of its struggles however, overall the author's heart is in the right place and we're right there with her as Zac's mission begins to yield surprising results – impacting the lives of multiple characters throughout. And this is particularly evident in the case of Zac’s grandfather Mick, whose chapters are among the novel’s strongest as he leads us further back in time in order to bring two absent figures to life.

A terrific reminder of just how much emotional mystery exists within our family trees, I found myself rapidly turning pages as more hidden truths came to light before Little Big Love eventually reached its tender, lovely, twist-filled resolution.

Releasing first on April 19 in the U.K. as Little Big Man – in reference to the author's son and Little muse – before arriving stateside in mid-June just in time for summer, it makes an ideal read for those who loved fellow tissues necessary (but not included) titles Dear Frankie and/or About a Boy.

Needless to say, whether Little, Big, or even about Love at all, I’m looking forward to reading whatever it is that Katy Regan delivers next.

Text ©2018, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: I received a galley review copy of this title in order to voluntarily decide to evaluate it for my readers from First To Read, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Book Review: Irene by Frank Billecci and Lauranne B. Fisher

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Complete Title:
Irene: A Designer from the Golden Age of Hollywood - The MGM Years 1942-1949

Long before the Johnny Stompanato scandal, one of the most popular stories that followed The Postman Always Rings Twice femme fatale Lana Turner around as closely as her own shadow was the old Hollywood legend that the blonde screen star had been first discovered at a drugstore.

Comprised of all the ingredients of an underdog/fish-out-of-water/Cinderella story that's since become synonymous with Hollywood movie-making, the Lana Turner legend has become almost as iconic as the all-white image of her walking into the frame of the dark world of Postman's Film Noir.

Therefore it’s only fitting that the woman responsible for creating the single-hue dominant motif of Turner’s mostly white Postman wardrobe (which led to department stores being unable to keep white garments in stock) was also discovered working in a drugstore two decades earlier herself when future MGM costume department head Irene was spotted by Mack Sennett Studio director F. Richard Jones.

Now that's a coincidence worthy of – if not a Hollywood movie – than at least Hollywood itself!

Having worked since the age of nine in her family’s South Dakota general store before catching a train to Los Angeles eight years later, Irene was a quick study everywhere she went.

Acquiring the skills she would eventually require later on when starting her own successful dress shop, Irene graduated from extra to assistant to lead actress at Sennett Studios before attending Wolfe School of Design which gave her the knowledge and confidence she needed to strike out on her own.

Initially starting out small, Irene’s figure flattering creations soon attracted a long list of private clients including the wife of future boss Louis B. Mayer and A-list actresses who wore Irene’s fashions in some of their onscreen roles without studio permission or credit to the designer.

Inspired by everything from gallery exhibitions to architecture (which she utilized to construct undergarments for Marlene Dietrich) along with the Parisian salons she visited following a personal tragedy, Irene was so successful in her own dressmaking endeavors that she initially turned Mayer down the first time he tried to hire her.

Once World War II depleted the men from the costume department, Mayer’s wife encouraged him to ask her favorite gown designer to reconsider accepting the position which she did. Negotiating a sweetheart deal, Irene was granted everything that had already been put in place by MGM’s previous head designer along with greater freedom to make top-level decisions and approve staff.

With her own loyal employees in tow and the understanding that she would be able to continue to dress her private clientele despite her new job, Irene officially made the move to MGM in 1942. Soon tasked with juggling several projects at once, one of her first big assignments was designing the scandalous costumes for longtime friend Lucille Ball’s newest project DuBarry Was a Lady.

Responsible for overseeing, designing and/or handcrafting thousands of looks throughout her career, Irene’s landmark contributions to the Golden Age of Hollywood costume design easily made her one of the earliest pioneers of the art-form and one on-par with her far more well-known peer and industry rival Edith Head.

Plagued by misfortune, heartbreak and person demons in her private life which began to take their toll on her career near the end of her MGM heyday, authors Frank Billecci and Lauranne B. Fisher (daughter of Irene’s longtime personal friend and artist Virginia Fisher) bring Irene’s legacy to vibrant life in this long-overdue book.

Compiling over one hundred and fifty breathtaking sketches and photos (including many from Virginia Fisher’s own personal collection) to augment this accessible yet well-researched text, Irene gives readers a closer understanding of one of the most unsung artisans of the 1940’s. Furthermore, the work from Schiffer Publishing is filled with insider details from and about those that knew her best.

Articulating the groundbreaking techniques she used in making the color of a costume an opera inspired musical motif for example, we realize that Irene’s efforts enhanced viewer understanding of MGM's masterpieces on a level most are completely unaware. And film fans reading Irene today will undoubtedly be eager to go back and view some of the titles she worked on to see the impact her designs made on the final cut.

Additionally, the authors recount her great friendships with performers loyal to her throughout their careers including Esther Williams and Judy Garland as well as her conflicts with Katharine Hepburn who did everything possible to sabotage the painstaking work done by Irene’s department from covering up the costumes to hide clothes she didn’t like on camera or sitting on the ground.

An engrossing and fast-paced read, Irene addresses the highs and lows of life on and off the MGM lot. Yet despite this, true film lovers do long for more in-depth analysis regarding how and why certain key pieces were crafted and the ways in which Irene worked in tandem with the production designers etc. to convey with art a chosen story, mood or theme (as evidenced in the outstanding Postman section).

Nonetheless with so many films to work into the seven year span of her tenure at MGM in a mere one hundred and forty-four pages, Irene’s scribes do an admirable job. And all in all it’s a terrific starting point for those with an interest in greater study on the medium of costume design on film which is currently at an all time high given the success of the nationally touring Hollywood Costume Exhibit.

A gorgeously illustrated and lovingly crafted work penned by the writers in tandem with Virginia Fisher, hopefully Irene will inspire further research into the still influential work of the designer who’s often overlooked in favor of her likewise extraordinarily talented peer Edith Head.

Highly recommended, while Irene makes a perfectly lovely coffee table book for fashion fans, it’s also an inspired title to pluck out of obscurity (much like Lana Turner or Irene herself in a Hollywood drugstore) and add to the holiday gift list for the cineaste in your circle of family and friends.
   

Text ©2014, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

Book Review: The $11 Billion Year by Anne Thompson

Now Available to Own   

Complete Title: The $11 Billion Year - From Sundance to the Oscars, an Inside Look at the Changing Hollywood System

As an entertainment journalist who’s seen her own field drastically change over the last 25 years, Anne Thompson is uniquely qualified to evaluate the way that the Hollywood system has likewise evolved with advances in technology, fleeting trends and the passing of time.

One of the smartest and most refreshing voices working in a career that has been historically dominated by men (until the great democratic equalizer of the internet took off and everyone began to have their say as new distinct points-of-view came out of the cyber woodwork), Thompson has bravely ventured into every medium.

In high profile roles as a staff writer, columnist and editor of some of the most prestigious publications in the industry, Thompson has spilled both newspaper and magazine ink alike. From working as a columnist handling the business side of film for LA Weekly to transitioning to her new home at Indiewire online where her blog Thompson on Hollywood has become a must read for colleagues, movers, shakers as well as film buffs in the know over the past several years, Thompson recently called upon her vast experience to pen her long overdue first book, The $11 Billion Year.

Painting a fresh and fascinating yet analytically informative picture of a studio system stuck in an existential, midlife crisis, Thompson lists and fleshes out all of the challenges facing the executives over the course of the box office record-breaking year of 2012 in one chronological journalistic snapshot after another.

Basing the structure of her work (which takes us from Sundance in January all the way up through the Oscars awarded one year later) on William Goldman’s Broadway themed nonfiction classic The Season that took a similar production-by-production approach, Thompson launches into her accessible, highly readable yet eye-opening behind-the-scenes book.

Taking us along with her to festivals and press junkets, roundtable interviews and conventions in her demanding professional schedule where Wi-Fi access and good walking shoes are a must, Thompson keeps a detailed journalistic log of the goings-on while chronicling not only the films and players that will garner both awards consideration and buzz later on in the year but also the films that failed to find an audience.

Indiewire readers in particular will enjoy the portions of the book wherein Thompson champions little movies and fills us in on not only how the works came to fruition but also theorizes why they may have gotten lost in the shuffle of festivals and distributors in place of breakout hits like Silver Linings Playbook and Argo.

Likewise, it’s riveting to see her chart the wreckage of blockbusters that came crashing down in a catastrophic house of cards as one multi-hundred-million dollar tentpole franchise bombed after another while fulfilling the prophecy made by Spielberg and Lucas, with which she opened the work and set the stage for the business of film at a “make it or break it” verge of something great.

In fact it’s this beautifully written introduction that offers Thompson a unique opportunity to step outside her role as reporter. Waxing both poetically and analytically on the industry she covers, she uses a brilliant image to describe the way that the studio system tries desperately to hold on to the methods and modus operandi of the past while time marches on by likening it to Harold Lloyd clinging to the clock in Safety Last.

Offering intriguing commentary on the colorful cast of characters behind and in front of the scenes that will leave their mark on the banner year, while she obviously doesn’t even attempt to cover the 670 plus films released in 2012 (wherein a much smaller number finds distribution), she uses a keen critical eye to help explain the complex and fractured state of the business.

With more and more audiences drawn to Netflix original series versus spending big bucks for a ho-hum product at the multiplex, she evaluates the pros and cons of video on demand releasing in offering people with physical limitations, schedule conflicts or childcare problems the chance to see first-run films to stay part of the pop culture conversation.

At the same time, Thompson also addresses the allure of TV in seducing Steven Soderbergh to retire from traditional feature filmmaking. From the role that marketing can play as well as how too much second guessing your film in an attempt to reach every demographic can lead to disaster (John Carter), she discusses the differences another edit or a new title can make while also offering some good advice for filmmakers wrapped into her otherwise informative text.

For example, she advises people to start the titles of their films with the letter “A” (like Arbitrage) since it’s faster to find on a VOD menu and statistically brings in more revenue to stressing the importance of the G through PG-13 rating and its role in global ticket sales.

Yet just when you think she’s only focused on the business side of the story, Thompson goes from fangirl (recalling a childhood reading comics) to Oscar handicapper, explaining that recent rule changes have made certain races harder to call than ever before.

Admittedly, some of the information does get a little repetitive the further we get into Year but logically, this probably owes more to the chronological structure of the narrative than anything else as by that point, we’re dealing with topics that circle back to information referenced earlier on.

Needless to say, with this in mind, it’s an extremely minor flaw as – thanks to an index – after a first read-through you’ll most likely be jumping back into her text at various points in the narrative and will be grateful for the approach in getting your bearings faster.

Following Good Reporting 101, Thompson covers the who, what, when, where, why and how before forming her own thesis based on the facts to share not only what went down but ideas on how to change things for the better.

Still a film lover at heart and one still in the field for the right reasons – ready to advocate for the films and storytellers that inspire her – although some of the data regarding Hollywood’s love affair with reboots and remakes can be depressing to art-house, foreign and indie lovers who want an original story with which we can connect, Thompson takes a cautiously optimistic approach.

Sharing her wise advice and voice of experience, we’re left hoping that just like she’s done in an amazing career that’s taken her from one enviable post to another, Hollywood will see this new era of digital film, VOD and a whole new world of original voices for the positive developments they are to branch out.

And maybe with her $11 Billion title to guide them, studios will let go of that clock from the past and take a leap of faith – using these new opportunities to find new ways to bring the world together, across cultures and generations for shared experiences on the silver screen (whether in home or at the multiplex).

Text ©2014, Film Intuition, LLC; All Rights Reserved. http://www.filmintuition.com Unauthorized Reproduction or Publication Elsewhere is Strictly Prohibited and in violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.  FTC Disclosure: Per standard professional practice, I may have received a review copy of this title in order to evaluate it for my readers, which had no impact whatsoever on whether or not it received a favorable or unfavorable critique.

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